Crowne Plaza is a multinational chain of full service, upscale hotels catering to business travelers and to the meetings and conventions market. It forms part of the InterContinental Hotels Group family of brands, which include InterContinental Hotels & Resorts and Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts, and operates in 52 countries with more than 400 hotels, usually located in city centers, resorts, coastal towns or near major airports.
Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts is the title sponsor of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial - a PGA Tour golf tournament held annually in Fort Worth, Texas. Starting in 2012, they are also officially sponsoring PGA Tour's 2010's Rookie of the Year, Rickie Fowler.[3]
Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts have been the sponsor of the British FIA World Touring Car Championship driver Andy Priaulx, a multiple touring car champion, since 2006. They now continue to support him in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM), a popular European touring car championship, as an official sponsor of BMW Motorsport along with the American LeMans Series (ALMS) where Californian Joey Hand represents the brand for both series.[4]
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Originally branded as "Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza", the first United States Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza Hotel was opened in Rockville, Maryland, in 1983. Within a couple of years the brand was spun off as an independent chain (still owned at the time by Holiday Inn). The first Crowne Plaza Resort opened in Madeira, Portugal, in 1999.
